Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Into the Grind of the Session: Subcommittee Work Begins

The 7:30 a.m. meeting of the House Committee on Education's
Education Reform Subcommittee focused on expedited research, calendar
flexibility for low performing schools, and accreditation.

Four expedited retake bills were taken up:Habeeb's HB1490, Filler-Corn's HB1668, and
Farrell's HB1706 and HB 1302.Habeeb's
HB 1490 was reported, while HB 1668 and HB 1706 were tabled.The meat of HB 1490 is "That the Board
of Education shall promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for
eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standard of Learning test, with the
exception of writing Standards of Learning tests, to each student regardless of
grade level or course."

Writing was excluded because it takes longer to take and it is
more expensive. The writing test alone costs $134,000.Excluding writing
reduces the fiscal impact of the bill to $200,000, a funding level thought to
be more acceptable to the House Appropriations Committee.

Habeeb's HB 1302 was reported as a back-up should HB 1490 not
gain final passage.HB 1302 allows
expedited retakes at local expense.Thesubcommittee hopes the state
will provide the needed $200,000.

The Senate Finance Committee meeting included an overview of theGovernor's proposed budget amendments.You may wish to review the Public Education section, on slides 18-23.Secretary of Finance Richard D. Brown presented a December Revenue
Report.The figures give some cause for
optimism, but January is a significant reporting month, and those numbers will
need to come in before any celebration is in order.